Gas and climate regulation is a consequence of the natural functioning of marine living organisms that balance and
maintain the chemical composition of the atmosphere and oceans. However, the monetary magnitude of this value
component is rather difficult to obtain by using market valuation methods; instead an avoidance cost method can be
employed so as to estimate the savings from damage avoidance due to marine conservation policies. For instance,
Beaumont et al. (2006) obtained a value estimate ranging between £420 million and £8.7 billion (UK£2004) for the UK
territorial waters area.